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I would change one thing at a time, then test and observe results. By issuing the reload command you wiped out any changes made since the configuration was saved by "write memory" or "copy running-config startup-config". Experiment. Change e-lead to m-lead and test. The family of...

Then it's down to observing diagnostic output of each router as you assert the COR signal to see if it is acting on it or not. If so, then observe the other router to see if it is responding to the asserted signal. Try M-lead signaling. Try different things. I don't know what else anybody could do a...

At this point I would follow the Cisco configuration guide to the letter. There might be one or two commands that are missing or not correct on your config. Or it could be something incredibly simple like a bad connection on your test bench, like a clip lead that is not making contact or you're conn...

E&M is an ancient signaling protocol designed for telephone lines and therefore assumed d.c. connectivity from end to end. So E&M uses current loop detection in the same way that d.c. remote controls for radios operate. If their documentation shows it, then it must be safe. The -48 Volt supp...

I think you must "key up" the channel to allow audio to be transmitted. I don't think it's nailed up full time so you would assert the M-lead to simulate radio COR by connecting it to SB. Best to consult the Cisco documentation on their web site for this. For Type 2 the Cisco docs say to c...

You have your routers "talking to themselves". I recommend using a more complete dial plan to keep sane. For example, right now on Router 2 you have port 1/1/1 calling itself via "connection trunk 200". So when the E-lead is asserted on Router 2 port 1/1/1 it "dials" 20...

Bill_G wrote:They are easier to work with behind a firewall with a vpn between the sites.

It would be foolhardy (to put it mildly) to send traffic over the open Internet. A VPN adds a layer of security as well as making your life easier in managing the boxes. I would consider a VPN mandatory.

Cisco and Twisted Pair are absolutely IN LOVE with i.p. multicast, but you just try making it work on the typical enterprise network. The first problem is the idiot I.T. administrator who claims, "Multicast will bring down my network." Bitch-slap him, then remind him that the OSPF routing ...

I was just IWCE in Las Vegas (March 25,26 2014) with Motorola and Cisco and they are pushing the stuff big time there. Using it with P25 and even LTE backhaul Including patching your cell phone into it it radio using SIP. I have a setup right now getting ready for testing with 2851 routers running ...

@maxjam - Is the Cisco detecting and regenerating the function tones? I didn't think they could do that. I've always just shipped the audio wholesale to the base station and let it decode the actual tones from the tone remote.

The loopback interface simply provides a logical interface instead of a physical interface. For this application it really doesn't matter. FYI, I only recently learned that you should never use interface names in routing commands, always use i.p. numbers; this doesn't apply here necessarily, but som...

Try adding to the voice-port in question: auto-cut-through You might be able to glean some tips from this page: Cisco LMR config tips but keep in mind that they are hooking the Cisco to a radio whereas you are replacing a phone line so the COR and PTT stuff needs to be modified to be nailed up. That...

How about the basics: can you inject 1004KC test tone into the audio RX pins of one Cisco and hear/detect that tone on the audio TX pins of the other router? If that doesn't work, forget about hooking up the radios, that just adds another level of question marks. Most commands take effect as soon as...

I'm going to play with multicast and see if I can't make one channel here hold music. Alex If you are in a small shop and you basically control your own I.T. destiny then it should work. But once you mention the word "multicast" to the I.T. administrator of a large campus you might as wel...

I'm still learning tricks and such... Each time I bump in to the cisco LMR people i try and get them to be helpful with how some of the demo setups they have work, but, they are always reluctant to actually show how it works. I know you can make a 79xx series phone be a console as well - they can g...

It's not the hardware, it's the software running on it that determines the capabilities of the unit under test. Cisco has a compatibility script on their web site if you can find it that asks what model hardware and what version firmware you have, then tells you what it can and can't do. PLAR = Priv...

That's right. Tx out of your tone remote connects to Rx on the Cisco E&M port, which ends up coming out of the Tx pins on the Cisco at the other end, which in turn goes into the Rx of the radio. Think of it in the same way that a mobile talks on the input frequency while the repeater talks on th...

These are configured as PLAR connections from router-to-router. If one router reboots, you have to remove the E&M cable shorting pins 1&2 (that makes the call connect), then reinsert it to re-establish connection. Any way to remedy having to do this? Boy, I wish I had seen this sooner, but ...

Very informative discussion. Where might I find a list of all tones, such as 1011Hz, so that I can set my alert tones to match so that they don't sound "underwater"? For example, for the alternating high-low alert tone I can encode 1011Hz for the high tone, but need to know what a good cho...

Yes, I set up a pair of AudioMates connected to a pair of RV042 routers and they worked, even with dynamic DNS host names. Of course, you need a good low-latency path between them. A poor network path will result in choppy audio.

I've got a basic, plain old electronics need for a hybrid transformer with support components that I can just drop-ship to a customer and he can parallel a couple tone remotes off a 2-wire phone line. The new one is 4-wire only and I'm hoping you can point me to an outfit that sells such a package r...

Do those Plantronics CA12CD wireless headsets transmit audio full-time or only during PTT activation? I was assuming they only transmit while PTT is active to conserve battery power. The application is with a console that can accept telephone calls as well, during which pushing of the PTT would be u...

I wouldn't mind having a QC1 encoder to restore. They used to be common as dirt in fire stations years ago. Our encoders had CZ through PZ reeds in them, and if I recall correctly, a few tubes. The usual story - the stuff that we pitched years ago as junk now has some nostalgic value. Although they...

I just watched the fifth episode of Petticoat Junction "Is There a Doctor in the Roundhouse" where the C&FW Railroad president gathers his corporate buddies to repair the Cannonball throttle that he broke in his exuberance running the train. One of them has set up a makeshift radio in ...

Absolutely amazing how serious the ham community takes FCC rules. Anyone want to come out to LA and police 435? I thought the only thing that makes it illegal is that the grumpy old retiree who acts as Official Observer can't decode it? Oh well, it wouldn't be ham radio if they weren't arguing over...

That's basically it. I mean, we all have a technical background with enough practical experience that I wasn't even concerning myself with regulations. But, this guy's bosses saw salesman at a trade show with their portables connected to their demonstration consoles, so OF COURSE that's what they as...

It's a bad idea. You know it, I know it, and the American people know it. Real men hang mobiles off of remotes, not portables. Now I've gotta convince somebody of it. Aren't portables prohibited from use as fixed stations under Part 90? I haven't been able to locate anything specific, but I recall h...

Not my radios, since I'm not the radio shop. I have no idea. Sounds like something that should default to "ON" in the CPS if it actually helps. If it is disabled, then I seriously doubt the customer is going reprogram several hundred radios just for that. Which is why I would expect the pr...

It's becoming clearer to me that the delivered audio quality is dependent on how hard the user hits the mic. Apparently you have to drive the digitizer into its sweet zone. Mumblers sound more mumbly, shouters get that breaking-up splattering effect that I mentioned above and it sounds nasty. Somewh...

I can't comment on whether you will notice an improvement over what you have, but I can say that after performing some radio tests and hearing users on a ConnectPlus 1.1 system that the audio is PHENOMENAL. These were brand new radios so they have to be running 1.08 or whatever the latest is. The au...

Upon further review, there are two parts to programming the accessory pins on an XPR mobile outfitted with the ConnectPlus 1.1 option board. Step 1 in the radio CPS is to program the pins in the radio to "generic function x" where you have up to 6 generic functions available for selection....

I'd further suggest sticking this sort of stuff on a completely separated network. Use two PCs, one just for Centracom, and the other for your other business applications, which might be internet connected if you want/need, running a modern OS etc. Something like a Conficker outbreak on your Centra...

Yeah, Centracoms are very sensitive to even 'minor' OS changes like service packs. This is why it is wise to disable ALL automatic Windows updates and just let the thing run. If it aint broke, don't fix it. This policy might run afoul of the more anal-retentive i.t. people, so be prepared to do bat...

I never woulda thunk it, but the answer to my original question is: pin 19 = Talkgroup activity, and it really, really works! The story is that the Connect Plus 1.1 option board for the XPR mobiles consumes most of the accessory pins, so the only one remaining is pin 19. Since that is a programmable...

It's a non-Motorola soft console that can take user-defined keystrokes to perform certain functions, such as "key select channel" or "mute unselect audio" or whatnot. I could write something to monitor a serial line and send a keystroke, but I'm essentially lazy. If somebody else...

Vector Capital to Purchase Wireless Broadband Networks Businesses from Motorola Solutions On August 23, 2011, Motorola Solutions announced it had reached an agreement with Vector Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, to acquire the company’s Point-to-Point (PTP or Orthogon) and Point-...

No problem. We have XPR4550 radios connected to remote adapters. It has full RX/TX audio as well as PTT and COR outputs on the rear accy connector. OK, fine. Are those XPR4550 configured with the adapter board for Connect Plus? That's where the rub comes in. Apparently several of the accessory pins...

That looks like an interesting device. I gather from reading their manual that they approached this from a telephony standpoint. What kind of radios will you be linking? I do work for a U.S. company that makes a family of RoIP gateways, one of which is specifically targeted at LMR linking. I develop...

No problem. We have XPR4550 radios connected to remote adapters. It has full RX/TX audio as well as PTT and COR outputs on the rear accy connector. OK, fine. Are those XPR4550 configured with the adapter board for Connect Plus? That's where the rub comes in. Apparently several of the accessory pins...

Is it possible to interface an analog gateway directly to an XPR4550 radio set up as a control station in a Connect Plus system? I have a contact at Motorola who says pin 14 on the accessory connector does indeed output baseband receive audio, while another says nope, you need the EchoBox for that. ...

Has anybody found a good way to get a PTT switch indication into a PC running a soft console? It seems like there ought to be a USB gizmo that takes a switch input and stuffs a character in the keyboard buffer or similar to key up the soft console. Anybody found anything, because I sure haven't. Tha...

Here are the crucial settings that I found to work in the RV042 for setting up a VPN using dynamic DNS names instead of i.p. addresses. The settings that I don't list here are obvious and dependent on your local needs. Local Group Setup - Local security gateway type = IP + Domain name(FQDN) authenti...

I have used the Linksys/Cisco branded RV042 for this very purpose. It took me a great deal of hair-pulling in their counter-intuitive labeling of the key setting to get it to work, but once I did it worked swimmingly. In fact, once I saved the proper dynamic DNS setting the thing set up the tunnel b...

How practical is it to put up a split-site TRBO VHF repeater, to get around the need for a full duplexer? Would it amount to an IPSC connection where one site is receive-only and the other transmit-only?

Pop quiz: what is the value of the squelch and volume pots on a MICOR base unified chassis? Both are extremely flaky on our repeater and it made troubleshooting today very difficult, to say the least, so I want to replace them. I'm embarrassed to ask as I used to know this by heart (20 years ago). T...

I can't swear to what controller it uses, but it looks extremely similar to http://gallery.batlabs.com/stations/gr300.jpg plus or minus different radios. If 1.5 seconds is the minimum hang time that can be programmed, then I'll have to look elsewhere for solutions. I can't believe Motorola did not p...